CONTENTS 1 | welcome an introduction to the journal 2|
foodhall is a public space an introduction to foodhall
12 | recipes ed and louise prepare some ripe recipes to make at home
4 | poetry ‘sad dead pig’ and ‘ode to snickers’
14 | testimonies about foodhall some absolutely lovely quotes from a few people who regularly come into the cafe
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more art! some wonderful drawings by abbie laycock
6 | article 16 | disabled toilets or disabling toilets? includes a list of changing places toilets in sheffield
how to support foodhall information on donations and volunteering
information NOMAD in sheffield, who they are and what they do
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how to help the foodhall shopping list
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art made at foodhall! some pieces of art from people in the cafe
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introduction to bananas there’s more to bananas than what they seem...
Welcome to the first issue of the Foodhall Open Journal! Here at Foodhall we share food, space and conversation. A woman who came to the cafe this month said to us ‘I always talk to someone when I come to Foodhall and I haven’t spoken to anyone since Saturday’. It makes us very happy that Foodhall is a place that everyone feels comfortable to share their stories, and boy to people have some great stories to tell. We wanted to create a platform for everyone to tell their stories, share their art, and say what they want to say, because everyone deserves to be listened to. One bright Thursday in the cafe, we asked if anyone wanted to do some art or write a poem, and hence came the idea for putting the artworks in a monthly journal, where we could also record how many meals we served, events we hosted, and stories we heard that month at Foodhall. We hope the journal becomes a living record of the community and a space for anyone to contribute. If you want to contribute to the journal for next month, email foodhallopenjournal@gmail.com, or come into the cafe if you like! We would love to see you here.
From 27th July to 26th August: We served 435 LUNCHES (!!!) and took on average 61 PENCE per serving
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contributors: charles schofield, ed lawrence, isaac tendler, louise delmage, louis koseda, sam atkinson, jody sill, miriam schechter, eloise feilden, jack spacey-holder, john feeley, ali, sam atkinson, jamie wilde, pam bentley, carl, khamis, abbie laycock printed at the riso studio at La Biblioteka, 70 Pinstone Street
Foodhall opening hours: 10am to 3pm thursday, friday, saturday 121 eyre street sheffield city centre (near the moor)
FOODHALL IS A PUBLIC SPACE The Foodhall project was developed after discovering that there was a lack of open public spaces for sharing food in our society. Spaces that are not commercially focused with an emphasis on citizenship rather than financial consumerism. We found many examples of these spaces throughout human history, yet so little exist today. We decided to create Foodhall in the city centre for people to come together, share culture and support one another with the domestic act of cooking and sharing. The problems of food waste and social isolation are implicitly linked; these can be traced back to a lack of infrastructure for communal dining and food sharing.
to support them, often hosting over 3 events a week alongside our daytime activities. We have our public workshop facilities, a digital fabrication facility, pottery workshop and co-working space and more which all compliment the meals. Individuals involved benefit from the new connections forged, reduced levels of isolation, and mutual bonding, bringing people together and feeding people whilst the peer to peer nurturing of talent occurs. Perhaps the most notable feature of food hall was that for a large part of it’s development it was not funded. It emerged because the community believed that there was a need and acted on it, bringing together their resources to form something amazing from nothing. In the daytime, we operate on a pay as you feel, system and we are supported by a community who make events to cross-subsidise the core activity (if you want to make an event please get in touch). To maintain the spirit of equality, 100% of all profits go back into the organisation to undertake the thing we offer. In that sense, we are almost a hard line charity. Our decisive line approach
The entire community galvanised around this common cause, each putting a portion of their time, resources and skills together to open a new public facility turning an old abandoned morgue into a bustling community centre full of life! We open 3 days a week from 10-3 on an entirely voluntary, community driven basis. Within the public meals and community dining we created an ecosystem of skills and activities and have generated facilities
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has not gone completely un-noticed. We recently won Sheffield’s design awards People’s choice by a landslide, despite being poised against some multimillion-pound behemoth projects (this entertained us eternally). We also won a high commendation RIBA Macewan award for architecture for social good.
1800’s in Kelham Island. We take a lot of inspiration from the Indian Ashram system/gudwara’s and the darma to give free food. This creates a public welfare of donation based food which does not have a western equivalent. We also only serve vegetarian food. We are accredited as part of the Real junk food project network and this means we follow the principals of reclaiming food that may have otherwise been thrown away to lower food waste. However we are more concerned with the aspects of public space so we maintain our own identity rather than using the RJFP banner.
We are registered as a community interest company with the primary responsibility belonging to it’s three directors. Despite being directors we have opted to have an open cooperative and distributed management structure, this allows members of the community to take control and contribute to their own place and mobilise their personal part of the organisation aswell as react to diverse feedback.
The Foodhall Open Journal is another aspect of our public space and sharing environment. Through the ability of people to be able to share their stories and be involved in the production of a monthly journal, we create another platform for people to connect with each other and feel part of a community.
Our lineage in Sheffield can be seen as a modern reinterpretation of the historic Scotland street commonwealth cafe ran by Edward carpenter in the late
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poems about food SAD DEAD PIG
ODE TO SNICKERS
by eloise feilden
by jack spacey-holder
I wake up to find I’ve lost my behind It’s been chopped on this chopping block #sad-times
Best bar none Three bites and you’re gone Wish I had another one Wait, hold on It’s a multipack
They’ve taken my trotters And made them a stew Out came my intestines For a sausage or two
A pound for four Which is three more Than I’d have bought If I’d not have thought About the multipack
They’re peeling my skin off These monstrous beasts Pork scratchings they’re making To top off the feast
A bar for each pocket One pocket each bar Why have one snickers When you can have four
My bones just remain now They’re boiling them down To make stock out of me It’s killing me; ow!
Four stanzas, four snickers A bargain I’ve found The nation gets bigger With four for a pound
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drawing by abbie laycock
nomad sheffield:
who they are and what they do
A few weeks ago, a couple people from NOMAD came into the cafe to explain what they do. They are a charity that are driven to conquer homelessness in Sheffield in a person-centred way. They build strong relationships with the people they house and also aim to ‘support, empower, and motivate people to access opportunities, achieve their goals, and live as they choose’. As well helping people looking for accomodation, NOMAD also provides asset coaching. Asset coaching is an innovative new way of working alongside people facing life’s toughest transitions. Instead of a deficit-based approach that focuses on problems that a person may have, an asset coach works with people in a positive, strengthbased way in order to prioritise aspirations, talents and abilities. Based on what is discussed, an asset coach would then broker opportunities in the local community that correspond with what the person wishes to work towards. For example, learning how to play the violin, enrolling onto a college course, or taking the steps to find employment. Asset coaches within the personal transitions service work to prioritise the needs of the people we assist, often shifting the power from the system to the individual so that they can make truly empowering life choices that allow people to contribute positively to their community. We are different to other job roles and organisations in that we do not use words such as ‘resident’ or ‘client’ - we prefer to use the name of the person. Also, the journey is based on working together in a person-centred way so that time is spent constructively and in a way which revolves around the individual. Instead of meeting the people we assist within a residential setting, we prefer to meet people out in the community in relaxed settings such as coffee shops in order to create a good environment in which to build up strong relationships. To get in touch with NOMAD, here are their details: email enquiries@nomadsheffield.co.uk address Office 3, Knowle House, 4 Norfolk Park Road, Sheffield, S2 3QE telephone 0114 2412080 hours 9am to 4.30pm Monday to Friday
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DISABLED TOILETS OR by Charles Schofield and Miriam Schechter
Charles described to me his definition of what a truly accessible toilet is. It is one with a hoist. A hoist is a machine attached the walls and ceilings of a building that has the strength to carry a person around the room it is in. The user and their carers would have to provide their own sling to attach to the hoist for hygeine reasons.
Here at Foodhall, we don’t have an accessible t\toilet. It’s not a secret, we simply do not have the money or resources to build one at the moment. Although, I worry that this is the excuse lots of places give to why they don’t have a truly accessible toilet.
Charles is able to transfer himself from his wheelchair to the toilet, if there is enough space to the side of the toilet for him to park his wheelchair, but he said that there are many people in wheelchairs with carers who would have to carry the wheelchair user from the chair to the toilet if they weren’t able to do this themselves. This will inevitably be a struggle to the carers, who although will have training in moving and handling, carrying a person creates a lot of strain on the body. Without accessible toilets, I worry that carers and people bound to wheelchairs would not feel okay to adventure out of their homes where they have resources and supplies to stay dignified.
I was talking to Charles Schofield, a regular at Foodhall who is wheelchair bound due to illness. We were talking about clothes deisgned for wheelchair users which are more comfortable, such as high-waisted elasticated trousers or jumpers that are shorter than usual so they don’t ride up behind his back. Charles knows that we don’t have an accessible toilet at Foodhall, and I asked him where the nearest one would be. He said that there weren’t many, and usually it is a struggle to find one. I told Charles that I thought there must be an accessible toilet somewhere in town, but he said that most of these toilets aren’t actually accessible to him. Firstly, a lot of them are not on the ground floor, which presents an obvious issue if the lifts are broken. Secondly, many ‘accessible’ toilets merely have a few bars in the cubicle, but are far too small for a big wheelchair to have access to. Therefore it is ludicrous to call these accessible to a wheelchair user. Charles described most ‘accessible’ toilets as made for infirm people rather than for disabled people.
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There are campaigns to make the situation with accessible toilets better. The Changing Places campaign (changing-places.org) was started in 2006 by Mencap to make accessible toilets truly accessible. They offer the statistic that over 250,000 people in the UK cannot use standard accessible toilets. They have guidelines about creating Changing Places Toilets which have the right equipment, enough space, and a safe and clean environment which should
R DISABLING TOILETS ? Hopefully one day we will have a Changing Places Toilet here at Foodhall too! Here is a list of their locations in Sheffield. One being on the Moor, just around the corner from foodhall. The New Moor Market 77 The Moor S1 4PF Sheffield Hallam University City Campus 122 Charles Street S1 2NE
A Changing Places Toilet source: http://pamis.org.uk/campaigns/changing-places-toilets/
allow any person with disability and their carers to use a toilet in a dignified and safe way. There are currently 1000 Changing Places Toilets in the UK, with hopefully more on the way. Luckily, in Sheffield city centre, there are 8 Changing Places Toilets.
Ponds Forge Sports Centre Sheaf Street S1 2BP Sheffield Town Hall Surrey Street S1 2HH
The requirements of a Changing Place Toilet is: - adequate space for a disabled person when they are not in their wheelchair, their wheelchair and one or two carers - 12sqm (3m x 4m) - an adult sized, height adjustable changing bench, wall mounted or free standing - a ceiling tracking or a mobile hoist - a peninsular (centrally placed) toilet - a privacy screen or curtain - a large bin for pads - an emergency alarm - a paper roll - a non slip floor
Crucible Theatre 55 Norfolk Street S1 1DA 33 Love Street 33 Love Street S3 8NW Heely City Farm Richards Road S2 3DT Royal Hallamshire Hospital Glossop Road S10 2JF
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The Foodhall Shopping List chopped tomatoes coffee beans garlic milk onions table salt toilet roll bin bags
At Foodhall, our food is reclaimed for sources that would have otherwise thrown it away. This means that we don’t know what we are going to recieve, and the menu changes day to day in the cafe. Although, there are some supplies that we use a lot of and don’t tend to get that often. If you want to help us out, consider donating these items to us! Either bring them in to the cafe during opening hours or message us to arrange something else! In addition to the list on the left, we are also on the lookout for a DIGITAL RADIO! If you have one that you could give us, we would be eternally grateful!
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ART made at foodhall! Ali made this one day in the cafe, it’s great what you can do with a pen and blank paper.
John’s been busy making cat monster drawings, a celtic dragon from recycled materials on the Foodhall carving machine, and playing with spooky ideas for Halloween using projector effects.
We don’t know who wrote this below, but we think it’s great.
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INTRODUCTION Bananas are the UK’s most popular imported fruit, generating £576.3 million sales in 2015 (1). Bananas are also the largest proportion of fruit wasted in homes each year (2). In the UK, people throw away around 1.4 million bananas every day, usually because of superficial marks or bruises, even though most are still fine to eat (3). At Foodhall, we collect donations of would-bewaste food from local shops to stock our cafe. Every day, without fail, local supermarkets have crates of fresh bananas ready to go to waste. We collect what we can, but there are so many bananas we struggle to use them all. Over time, our chefs have come up with loads of great recipes to cope with our constant supply, some of which are featured in the following pages. They’re delicious and nutritious, but not too ambitious. Next time you’re faced with some bananas that need using up, why not give them a try.
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Bananas are the most consumed fruit in the world, with more than 1 billion being consumed each year (4). This trade is dominated by supermarkets and other food conglomerates based in the global North, who import the fruit predominantly from countries in the South. This relationship between North (generally richer and more developed) and South (poorer and less developed) contributes to the perception of the contemporary banana industry as representative of a range of complex issues. The trade of bananas ‘symbolizes economic imperialism, injustices in the global trade market, and the globalization of the agricultural economy’ (5). Workers on banana plantations in the global South are paid low wages, subject to frequent and unpredictable falls as powerful Western food companies battle each other to reach the lowest possible sale price for the fruit. In 2002, the American company Wal-Mart cut the cost of its bananas by a
N TO BANANAS BY ISAAC TENDLER
third, forcing its competitors to do the same. So big is Wal-Mart’s business that this led to a worldwide fall in banana prices, which passed from retailers to suppliers to growers, eventually leading to farmers in the Caribbean and Costa Rico being paid less than the legal minimum to grow the fruit (6).
of dollars of damage, devastating the livelihoods of banana growers in the global South, and of course losing countries in the North our constant supply of the fruit. (1) www.statista.com/ statistics/650348/fruitvegetable-popular-sales-uk/ (2) www.wrap.org.uk/sites/ files/wrap/Bananas%20 v1.1.pdf (3) www.theguardian.com/ environment/2017/may/15/ britons-throw-away-14medible-bananas-each-dayfigures-show (4) www.fusariumwilt.org/ index.php/en/about/ (5) www.scq.ubc.ca/globalissues-for-breakfast-thebanana-industry-and-itsproblems-faq-cohen-mix/ (6) Carolyn Steel, Hungry City (London: Vintage, 2013). p. 95. (7) www.bananalink.org.uk/ all-about-bananas (8) http://www.fusariumwilt. org/index.php/en/about/
There are over 1,000 different variety of banana, but the vast majority of those traded are from a single strain: the Cavendish banana (7). This strain came to dominate the global industry in the 1950s, replacing previously popular varieties that succumbed to panama disease. This disease wiped out global crops of banana strains, leaving the industry in crisis until the Cavendish proved to be resistant. However, new strains of panama disease have emerged, and now threaten the Cavendish banana, and with it the global banana industry (8) . Unless global traders diversify their crops, the contemporary banana industry may collapse, costing billions
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ED AND LOUISES B Here are some easy recipes that you can make with a few super ripe bananas. We usually have loads in the foodhall kitchen! BANANA ICE CREAM 1 2 3 4 5
get lots and lots of super-ripe bananas peel and slice them and spread them evenly on a tray put the trays in a freezer for 1 or 2 hours until the banana is frozen solid a little bit at a time, blend the banana using a food processor or handheld blender (tip: add a little milk to ease the blending process) optional extras include a dash of vanilla essense, a scattering of nuts, raisins or sweets, or a drizzle of honey, treacle, or toffee sauce
BANANA FLAPJACKS 1 2 3 4 5
mash 2 or 3 very ripe bananas and weigh them in a bowl, put 3/4 of the weight of the bananas in oats, and 1/4 of the weight of the bananas in oil add a handful of dried fruit, nuts, or seeds add spices and flavours, such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cocoa powder and chocolate chunks and mix everything together bake at 180 degrees until they are firm to touch
BANANA BROWNIES 1 2 3 4 5 6
mash 2 or 3 very ripe bananas and weigh them in a bowl, put 1/4 of the weight of the bananas in oil, 1/2 of the weight of the bananas in sieved cocoa powder, and 1/4 of the weight of the bananas in sieved plain flour melt a bar of dark chocolate and put it in the bowl mix in a large spoonful of golden syrup and a teaspoon of baking powder mix everything together thoroughly and put it in a lined and greased tin bake at 180 degrees for about 15 minutes, until a knife comes out clean
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BANANA BONANZA BANANA BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING 1 2 3 4 5
cut up a loaf of stale white bread spread butter of coconut oil on the bread and spread it on the bottom of a greased tin place slices of banana on the bread and then add another layer of bread and banana pour over some custard and sprinkle it with cinammon bake at 180 degrees until golden brown
FRIED BANANA TO SERVE WITH ICE CREAM 1 2 3
Slice a banana and fry it in butter or oil Splash brandy or rum at it and burn off some of the alcohol Serve it hot with some ice cream
BANANA CHIPS 1 2 3
Slice the banana into very thin slices Place on a sheet of oiled baking paper Bake at only 75 degrees for a couple hours until leathery
CAMPFIRE BANANA 1 Take one ageing banana and slice it lengthways with the skin still on 2 Take a stick of chocolate, marshmallows and peanut butter and stuff it into the cut in the banana 3 Place the banana on the edge of the fire until it has all melted together, or you can do this in the oven if you’re at home
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Testimonies about Foodhall “I’ve been coming to the food hall for the past few weeks and I have realised that, for me, the food is not the most important thing. I’m a senior citizen and I live alone. In a typical week I share just one meal with someone else and, perhaps, also meet someone for a coffee. The rest of the time my mealtimes are solitary. In coming to the food hall I get the opportunity to enjoy company over a shared meal and it is the social contact that brings me back. The food is good too but that, for me, is secondary to the companionship of eating a meal with others.” - Pam “Foodhall is very laid back. There’s not so much drama. It’s generous, lot of nice people. There are some services I wouldn’t go near because of the drama. Student interaction makes the space calm, students are able to see both sides, they’re accommodating, they’re keen to help. It’s more chilled out here. You’re here, you’ve got company, something to eat, you can even get a cigarette if you’re desperate.” - Carl “You meet nice people, you learn new things. People aren’t the same, people have different cultures ... and that’s a good thing! Learning English is hard, but here there is always someone to talk to, to help.” - Khamis
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Art by Abbie Laycock
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HOW TO SUPPORT FOODHALL Foodhall wouldn’t be able to exist without the commitment of hardworking volunteers and the community.
donating money On average, our taking for one meal served at Foodhall during cafe hours is 53p. Although most of our food is donated, we usually have to buy some items in the morning to be able to make a full meal. With your help, we will be able to continue to provide pay-as-you-feel food and events for everyone. To donate, please please contact us!
volunteering We always need people to help out in the kitchen and cafe. If you could spare some time during our opening hours that would be wonderful! If you haven’t been before, we will show you the ropes. Either just come along to the cafe from 10-3 thurs, fri, sat, or sign up to a volunteering shift by visiting goo.gl/VZkcFo for our volunteering rota.
donating items
See page 7 to see our shopping list!
THANK YOU! 16
EVERYONE
DESERVES TO BE HEARD
TO SEND YOUR ARTICLES, ARTWORKS, QUOTES AND WOES TO US, EMAIL FOODHALLOPENJOURNAL@GMAIL.COM ! YOU CAN SUBSCRIBE TO THE JOURNAL ! EMAIL US FOR DETAILS Foodhall opening hours: 10am to 3pm thursday, friday, saturday 121 eyre street sheffield city centre (near the moor)
www.foodhallproject.com